Hi, first of all - I'm pretty new here, but I'm really enjoying all the great discussions and information in the forums! I'm learning all kinds of great stuff.

I know people have posted about this topic before, but I'm still confused! I read you could mix icing color with almond extract to paint on buttercream, but what kind of color: gel, paste, powder, liquid??? And does anyone recommend a particular kind of brush?

I'm making this cake for an acquaintance next month, but I will be making it about a week in advance and freezing it because I will be gone on vacation on the day of the event. Should I worry about the colors bleeding? Should I just refrigerate the cake instead of freezing it?

Thanks for any help! This is my first time painting on buttercream and I'm really excited. Luckily I'm only painting stripes, so how could I possibly go wrong?

What kind of buttercream are you going to use? I can't imagine trying to paint on most of the buttercreams I have tried, I recommend a crusting buttercream if you do, or perhaps royal icing? I only have one other recipe that I have found that sets up enough to be semidurable. I really don't know other than that on your questions, I just caution you on most buttercream recipes. Hope it goes well for you!

You have to go have good crusting recipe to do it....I now use a good one, its Indys recipe. and I love it!!!! it crust so good, I was afraid after I had bumped a cake hard...NOPE, not a dent, then I was afraid that it was so HARD, that the customer would say it was horrible....

HECK NO!!! I got calls about how good the bc tasted, how moist and fluffy my cake was, and requesting the same BC for other cakes as they loved it.

I saw a video on you tube...caking dave something like that he shows how he takes a brush and actually paints RI onto a cake, it came out wonderful!!!! the BC was still mushy....

hi, you might be thinking of embroedry sp painting, it's really pretty, i love doing it, you can take a flower cutter, and make an impression on the crusted cake you make a thick out line, i made a a brush that was stiff and cut into the tip to make different lengths like fraying, but you can use a regular brush, you pull the frosting from the outline toward the middle you don't want it fully covered. you can use almond flavors, or even alcohol it evaporates, on u-tube you can find it, there is a woman that does one that she made a mold out of royal icing and did it, it was just beautiful, flowers leaves very good presentation. not sure if this is what you're looking for but sounds like it. hope this helps, you can find a lot of decorating help on u-tube..